Established in 2006, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society. Scroll down for links to book reviews, Native media, and more.

Timeline: Foul Among the Good

The Foul Among the Good is a phrase coined by Creek author Durango Mendoza to describe what children and their families will come across in some children's books. I use his phrase with permission to describe stereotypes of American Indians in children's books. Research studies show that stereotypical mascot images have a negative impact on Native children. Do a search on Indian mascots and you'll see similarities in them and the images in this Foul Among the Good gallery. Now consider this: Native children drop out of school at astonishing rates. Researchers cite a lack of engagement. Would you engage if you saw this sort of thing, year after year, in your classrooms?

Thegallery is arranged chronically. Some of the images depict Native people in grotesque and savage ways; some depict Native people in romantic and noble ways. Some mock Native people in cartoonish ways, while others objectify Native people. Beneath each image is the title, author, illustrator, publisher, year of publication, and date it was added to the gallery. It is a work in progress. I welcome your assistance in building it. Please submit scans or photographs to me at dreese.nambe@gmail.com. If you wish, I will credit you with submitting the image. Uncredited images are ones I (Debbie Reese) scanned.

1658

Orbis Pictus (Visible World) by Johannes Amos Comenius

published in 1658

Date added to gallery: 6/2/2014

1839

Aventures de Robert-Robert et de son fidéle compagnon Toussaint Lavenette
by Louis Desnoyer, illustration by Frédéric de Courcy
Published in 1839 in Paris by Garnier Freres

1847

The Tales of Peter Parley, About America

published by Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. in 1847

Date added to gallery: June 13, 2014

1909

A Child's Garden of Versus

Written by Robert Louis Stevenson, illus by Charles Robinson

published by London J. Lane in 1909

Date added to gallery: June 9, 2016

1911

Two Little Savages by Ernest Thompson Seton

published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1911

Date added to gallery: June 13, 2014

1941

The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds,

published by Dodd, Mead & Company in 1941.

Date added to gallery: 2/10/2013

A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson,
illustrations by Alice and Martin Provensen.
Published in 1951 by Golden Press.
Date added to gallery: 4/27/2016

1951

Bugs Bunny and the Indians,

published by Little Golden Books in 1951

Date added to gallery: 2/16/2015

1958

Danny and the Dinosaur, by Syd Hoff,

published by Harper in 1958.

Date added to gallery: 2/10/2013

1959

Color ABC, by Nancy Larrick, illustrated by Rene Martin,

published by Platt & Munk Co., Inc., in 1959.

Image courtesy of Nancy Tolson.

Date added to gallery: 2/21/2013.

1962

Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak,

published by Harper & Row in 1962.

Date added to gallery: 2/10/2013

1964

Red Fox and His Canoe, written by Nathaniel Benchley,

illustrated by Arnold Lobel, published by Harper & Row in 1964.

Date added to gallery: 4/3/2015

Image courtesy of Leigh Woznick

1967

Clifford's Halloween, by Norman Bridwell,

published by Four Winds Press in 1967.

Date added to gallery: 2/10/2013

1970

The Nose Book, by Al Perkins,
published by Random House in 1970.
Date added to gallery: 2/12/2013
Image courtesy of Gina Boldman,
Eastern Michigan University

1973

Find Your ABC's, by Richard Scarry,

published by Random House in 1973.

Date added to gallery: 2/10/2013

1973

George and Martha, Encore by James Marshall,

published in 1973 by Houghton Mifflin.

Date added to gallery: 2/10/2013

1973

Please and Thank You, by Richard Scarry,

published by Random House in 1973.

Date added to gallery: 2/10/2013

1974

The Stupids Step Out, by James Allard, illustrated by James Marshall,
published by Houghton Mifflin in 1974.

Date added to gallery: 2/10/2013

1978

The Stupids Have A Ball, by James Allard, illustrated by James Marshall,

published by Houghton Mifflin in 1978.

Date added to gallery: 2/10/2013

1978

Worse than Rotten, Ralph, by Jack Gantos, illustrated by Nicole Rubel
published by Houghton Mifflin in 1978.
Date added to gallery: 2/14/2013

3 comments:

I need to be told how some of these are objectifying. Are native americans not to be mentioned in children's literature. Children pretend to be pilgrims and first Americans because they learn about them in early primary education - and that is where "Indians" are really being objectified.

Wow....these are all so stereotypical. Still today? And people and animals playing " dress up" with sacred or important native regalia. Why are natives treated this way? What if I did a children's book where pigs were dressed up as Popes and Ayatollahs and the children were encouraged to role-play " African-Americans"! How would that go over? How hard is it to write a non-stereotypical book that gives actual information on specific tribes and trivializes no one? Either do a good educational job on every ethnicity or don't do it at all. There is enough garbage out there.

First Peoples listed AICL as one of the Top Five Native Blogs and Podcast to follow. School Library Journal's Elizabeth Burns featured AICL as her Blog of the Day on July 2, 2007, and in 2007, the ALA's Association for Library Service to Children invited Debbie to write a blog post for their site.

American Indian? Or, Native American? There is no agreement among Native peoples. Both are used. It is best to be specific. Example: Instead of "Debbie Reese, a Native American," say "Debbie Reese, a Nambe Pueblo Indian woman."